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Tourer
Posts: 457
Green Bay, WI United States | +1 to you all, we all ride for different reasons - the fact is we all ride!!!l
Ride hard, ride fast, but above all ride safe and free.......
Wildman/8-ball |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 825
, WI | I like to ride -
I'm not afraid to die
I'm not afraid to live
And when I'm flat on my back
I hope to feel like I did - U2 |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 5
Alberta Beach, Alberta, Canada | I ride because I like to and want to. I don't need to go fast, just go. I find that it relaxes me and allows me to clear my mind. Last year was about getting to long off places, so it was a lot of long days. This year will be about seeing the sites closer to home, so a couple hundred less miles each day and stopping more to enjoy the scenery. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 623
| i ride for both, but never at the same time. Some days it just a stroll on the road, taking it all in, a relaxing ride thru the mountains. Sometimes its all about speed and scraping floor boards and scaring myself a few times in a ride. Just depends on the day, my mood, the road, my destination. no matter what though....I always walk away from my motorcycle with a smile |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 669
Peachtree City, GA | Both |
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Cruiser
Posts: 112
Denver, Iowa | There isn't much adrenalin in my part of Iowa. If I want to hit the curves, I ride to the end of the block and turn right, go another block and turn left...that's my curves.
I'm absolutely new to this stuff...it's my first street bike. I'd only ridden for two months last fall, and put on 4,800 miles. When I first started riding, my mind was always thinking about everything but riding... my wife, my friends, my management job, my retail parts business, the house, truck, car, garage... anything and everything...so, I asked myself, "How is this relaxing? I thought riding was supposed to be about clearing your thoughts, not dwelling on them."
And then I had a close call. At a (two stop sign) country intersection, I was stopped at the stop sign. A car approaches from my left (no stop sign for them), and I thought it was turning right... to go in the direction I'm coming from. I'm in another mental world at the time, so I took off into the intersection, when I realized that the car wasn't turning... it's going straight...and it just about t-boned me to the Pearly Gates. Barely missed me. Now I've broken ribs before (in my racing kart days), and that's about how hard it was for me to breathe for the next few minutes. I couldn't get the MSF instructors voice out of my head... when you're riding, think about nothing but riding. Now I know what he meant.
Adrenalin or serenity? Yes, both. But my adrenalin now is just to be safe. If I can go out there and ride for hours, against all the things that can go wrong, and make it home to kiss my beautiful wife, that's my adrenalin. And I rode the entire trip not thinking about anything else that could stress me out, that's my serenity. |
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Tourer
Posts: 329
scotts valley, California | Man, you got your shot of adrenalin all at once at the intersection! Thanks for the idea; I never would have thought of that!
Sorry to make light of what could have been a very serious situation. Your MSF instructor was right on. You NEED to pay attention when you are riding. And there is an incredible serenity in that. A moment by moment serenity. And, like you say, you get to come home and hug the wife. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 825
, WI | I almost ran out of adrenalin!!  |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 825
, WI | Serenity. 
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Tourer
Posts: 447
Northeastern Penna. | How can you beat that scenery while on a bike ? Riding is relaxing, just have a great feeling while on my Vision !
The "only" downside is the lousy road conditions here in Penna. |
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Tourer
Posts: 307
Columbia, SC | Most of the time, actually, commuting. After that, serenity. But MAN I love that adrenaline when I come upon that RIGHT road. Although when the wife is with me (very often, thankfully!), I still take it pretty easy.
Alexi |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 804
Perry Hall, MD | Escape - Sanity - Serenity
Got to work yesterday and unexpectedly had 50 pages of revised SOPs to review and comment on in addition to all the other things I thought I was going to be doing. Did 4.5 hours of that then took the rest of the day off to just ride. Totally disappointed when I looked at the time and had to head for home (about an hour late actually). Too many things in life are like medicine and riding is my 'spoon full of sugar'. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 101
Springfield, TN | dan camarco - 2011-03-16 1:11 PM
Why I (we) ride, riding is both for myself and my best friend in the world my wife . we ride because it is like taking a mini vacation everytime we are together on the bike. no gps just arrive at a fork in the road and say gee wonder where that goes. turn on some good tunes and space out on the beauty of what is going past us in this free country we live in. going by all the history of each little town or county has to offer, stopping in new places meeting new people (and some old dude saying gee guess I haven't seen everything cause thats a nice ride you have) it is both the adrenalin when the wife thinks I don't see that car braking or what ever and jabs me in the sides and the serenity of that open road ahead of us with nobody but us on it or riding by the ocean with the salty breeze blowing at you. as far as we know we only get one time at life so we need to live it to the best we can, we need to ride safe and have a great time all at once and so far many of us can do both. I ride as much as I can and the wife is right there behind me whenever she can be. just remember you can't get lost just misplaced at times the world is round and you will get home sometime. until then ride safe.
Right on brother! As "empty nesters" my wife and I keep and emergency overnight pack of necessary items in the bike in case we don't go home at night... we're liable to have wandered into the mountains and have an unplanned overnighter somewhere... those are the best times! Follow the road to where it leads!
I have to say the serenity of riding alone is needed sometimes though... just don't tell my wife. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 669
Peachtree City, GA | Both |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 1109
| There was a time I rode for speed, had a GSXR 1150,highly modified and had a a lot of fun. Not the stupid fun I see today but fun. That was years ago and now that I'm in my middle fifties my VV does everything I want a bike to do. I still have my Harley lowrider but I find I ride it less and less. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 72
Chino Valley, AZ | Having owned and ridden quite a few different bikes in my 62 years, my first ride was in 1958 on a tote-gote and I have been riding ever since. The peace I feel when riding compares to no other experience I have ever had. It doesn't matter if I am carving a Mountain road or just cruising along at 35 miles per hour, I am at peace, so I would have to say Serenity is my reason for riding.
But, I have never felt so good on a motorcycle than I have for the last 500+ miles I have put on my "New to Me" 2008 Victory Vision Tour Premium (and I thought Harley had some long names). My Vision rides better than any other bike I have ridden, I cannot wait for my next looonng ride. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 9
| I ride for serenity, but when I get on a long stretch of empty road, I love to twist the throttle and let the bugs explode on my face. |
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What do you ride for?.adrenalin or serenity?
